Page 163 of Rise of the Queen

“New level indeed,”she said, laughing in her head. She brought Ivan into the conversation, asking him what he felt.

“Misha feels much like you and Boss now. You two are still stronger, but he’s very similar now,”Ivan told us.

Misha’s eyes had turned almost black as he let his anger completely take over. Sephie recognized that he was struggling to contain it, however. We all felt her anger increase to insane levels as she walked to Misha. She just put her hand on hisshoulder, showing him how to control his own. His eyes went wide as he figured out how she did it.

“That’s how you control it so easily,” Misha said in a half-whisper, still watching what she was showing him.

She smiled sweetly at him. “Now you try,” she said. We could feel Misha’s anger levels slowly lowering, but then they spiked again. She giggled as she knew he was just playing with us now.

Once Misha was calm once more, I said, “Sephie was right. There is an element of fuckery to your anger that nobody else has.”

“You could feel it too?” Misha asked.

I nodded my head. “You’re just as clear as Sephie and Ivan are for me now.”

“He can even tell the difference between you and your demon already,” she said.

I laughed. I hadn’t even told her that part. “I don’t know why it still surprises me that you read my mind, but it still sometimes does,” I said. She just grinned at me. She hugged Misha’s neck, explaining to him how the rest of us had progressed through this particular development in our lives. To say that Misha was excited for this would be an understatement. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning; he was so happy this had happened.

Stephen looked at Viktor. “So, yeah. I think it’s time I helped you one more time. Just to be safe,” he said. Viktor just nodded and stood up to leave the kitchen without a word. I looked to Sephie, wanting to know what he was feeling.

“He’s not as worried as I thought he was going to be. He’s happy. He recognizes that it’s all something we want to happen and he’s happy for us. Stephen really is helping him. I think after this time, he’ll be fine with it and able to laugh about it,” she said.

There was an audible exhale from everyone still in the kitchen.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Sephie

When Viktor came out afterStephen helped him one more time, he looked remarkably better. He’d looked better each time Stephen had helped him, but it looked like he was finally relaxed and happy this time. The rest of us were in the back room, on the couches, being ridiculous about something when they walked in.

“Papa Bear, you look much better this time,” I said, smiling at him. The smile I got in return was enough to tell us all everything we needed to know.

“Even I can tell you feel better now and I don’t usually pay attention,” Misha said.

“I think I got it all this time,” Stephen said. “I was somewhat concerned for my effectivity the other two times.”

“He’s been holding on to it for a long time. You could’ve asked for a boost, like with Sergei,” I said.

“I know. Maybe I wanted to see if I could do it on my own,” Stephen said, grinning at me.

“Independent. I’ll allow it,” I said.

“Okay, who has Andrei next or Stephen next?” Misha asked.

We all looked at both Andrei and Stephen. That was a tougher decision to make than I would’ve thought. They were bothprogressing at rapid rates. Andrei has had his gift for longer, but Stephen jumped in with both feet once he discovered his. It could go either way.

“My money is on Andrei,” Ivan said. Adrik agreed with him.

“I’m going with Stephen,” I said, which shocked everyone. “I know it should technically be Andrei who gets it next, but he’s been more cautious about his gift the entire time. I also think he’s more worried about controlling his anger when it happens, so it’s going to take him longer. Stephen has more experience with that. I think he’s going to be more willing to take that leap much sooner than Bubba,” I said.

“You know that feeling that I assume one has when they’re a kid and their parents tell them they’re proud of them? That’s what I’m feeling right now,” Stephen said, his uncharacteristic smile stretching across his face.

“She’s not wrong, Stephen. I agree with her. My money is on you, too,” Andrei said.

“Apologies for snooping, but I noticed your uneasiness when I told Misha to get angrier. I’ll show you what I showed him when you’re ready. You’ll be just fine, Bubba,”I said to him silently.

“I know you’ll help. I’m more worried about not breaking anything. The few times it’s happened, I’ve always smashed something. Or someone. That’s what I’m most worried about,”he told me.

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